Old or New? Over the last few years churches have tried to distinguish themselves from their sister churches by reaching to the early church past to define the cutting edge church future. The term to describe this enviable state of embracing a distant golden age of faith and presenting in appealing new ways has been described as “Ancient/Future”.  This is not to be confused with the world music band “Ancient Future” which was formed in 1978. When describing this term to a family friend they quickly replied, “you mean yesterday?”.

Yes, we use an ancient form of liturgy and we follow the rhythm of the church year, which is centuries old.  Yet here we are, communicating by blog.  We are a member of the Anglican Church in North America, which was formed (out of pre-existing groups of Anglicans) in 2009.  So are we old or new?  We are both.  Like the Anglican Church in the 16th century, we honor the pioneers of the Church, the Apostles who knew Jesus.  The Reformers were inspired by the early “Fathers and Mothers” of the church who struggled to define Christianity in the first 3 or 4 centuries of the young church.

We believe that Jesus is the same now and forever and that in every age he holds out to us the hope of overcoming sin, evil, and death.  And we are open to your questions and concerns today.  You are welcome to join us in worship of God that is old but always new. On Wednesday at Noon and 7:00pm (March 1) we offer the ancient liturgy of imposition of ashes to begin the season of Lent. During this season the faithful recall the 40 days that Christ was to fast in the wilderness. We too make our wilderness pilgrimage on our way to the Cross of Christ at Easter.